Graves
by sylph-feather
Summary: Amity makes graves for several of its local ghosts— including its hero.


A peaceful sending off has become deeply rooted in Amity Park's residents; a quiet, respected grave would lead to happier ghosts (or no ghosts at all) according to research by the Fentons. Even already aggressive, unrelated beings became soothed in the presence of one of these graves, or when a small grave of their own was set up.

In the end, the dead's most deepest desire was only to be _remembered, _to know their impact. It didn't change their whole persona; those that were rotten stayed that way… but it at least soothed many of the fickle ones a bit.

So yes, first the town turned its attention towards the malignant ghosts, allowing more positive energy to flow through them. Months after that though, when all that could be done on that front was, there was a question that snagged on Amity Park's collective consciousness.

There was one ghost that they saw often that had no offerings. _Where is Phantom's grave? _

xXx

Danny didn't immediately connect "_I'm feeling happier and energized" _to "_I have a grave" _because who the hell _would? _It was odd, to be sure, considering even with the now moderately soothed ghosts, he was still fighting off a good deal of portal creeps that left him perpetually tired and stressed, and his grades didn't exactly help.

But… the last few weeks his grades had been rising, and he'd been _happier, _not as tired. In his dreams, faint murmurs of assurance drowned out his doubtful thoughts, and good food combined with comforting colors and feelings drove away dark nightmares.

At first, Danny figured it was the mass grave site. Normally a town creating one of those was something of a negative thing, to understate it. Not Amity Park, though. After the conclusive results of positive offerings towards ghost as part of a research project of trying to passively _prevent_ ghost attacks (not just deal with them in the moment), Amity had happily set about working. Within those months, a large and peaceful grave site filled with shrines emerged— even Danny aided, and was surprised at the way even being around the graves directed at other ghosts bolstered him.

Now, that project was finished; all that would remain for the community was upkeep—refreshing offerings, cleaning, the like. Even Danny partook— _especially_ Danny— dumping offerings in hopes of not dealing with his enemies, and carefully curating small shrines to the handful of ghosts he'd befriended.

Danny figured it was this completion that accounted for such an uptick of energy, with positive, peaceful feelings coming from those graves.

He wasn't completely _wrong, _considering that the finishing of the immediately malignant ghosts' graves encouraged the townspeople to move onto a specific grave to aid the hero they'd warmed up to a bit.

Danny simply decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, floating on the relaxation and normalcy he hadn't felt in a long time.

xXx

...Except it didn't last. It hit him in the night, a pang in his chest, a sharp feeling of anger that had him baring too-sharp teeth, eyes ablaze.

...Danny couldn't place _what_ got him so angry, and spent a moment sinking now sharpened nails into his pillow in an attempt to release the sudden, irrational burst.

A thought hit him— _the graves. _It was almost a subconscious idea, but it did make sense… so he transformed feeling more ghostly, more dangerous than usual, and went to check it out.

xXx

Somewhere along the way, the world dissolved; only flashes remained. An angry mob, _desecrating what was HIS. _A scream— his own— repelling them. _Fear. _

And that was how Phantom found himself blinking at his own grave. He didn't realize it was his at _first, _only looked at the stone with the simple logo and tacky black-white-green themed offerings in confusion, mind processing. He next noticed the _ruin— _spray painted declarations that Phantom was no hero, smashed flowers, ruined food, torn _thank you_ letters. The grave was cracked where something akin to a baseball bat smashed into it.

Seeing this caused comprehension to dawn and that same simmering _rage _to boil up— Danny tamped down on the latter.

Reverently, he reached down and touched a bouquet of flowers of black and white, and felt that same swirl of happiness from his dreams engulf him. Warm gratitude touched his heart, despite the obvious fact that it was now partially ruined— but really, that didn't matter in the face of all the other things and their meaning.

xXx

The next day, the town was angry and surprised to find a semi-wrecked grave in the collection— Phantom had widely been accepted by now after all, considering the sheer amount of people he'd saved. Everyone resolved to repair it right quick.

What surprised them _more, _though, was the tearful letter of _thank you_ to _them, _left as a response to their own multitude of _thanks for saving us _in the form of gifts and cards.

_Anything for our hero, _the town replied.

**xXx**

**Because it's for phanniemay this is pretty short… but I might expand this into a full fledged fic (4ish chapters, maybe?) once it's over, so follow/subscribe to get an update on that (if you like). **


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